Sordid Blog

So here’s the thing about a good writing retreat, even if it lasts only a day and a half: you can get a lot done if you try. This past weekend, I managed to get several words out there.  First of all, I spent much of Saturday writing the first chapter for my young adult [...]

While I was in Atlanta recently, part of a twice-yearly pilgrimage to a better land of tremendous food, good books, and fun people — but mostly just to get away and get some writing done — I took advantage of being so near to OutWrite and Brushstrokes to grab five or six of the new [...]

Tuesday begins as a day of infinite promise — what could be bad about seeing Peter Pan in Kensington Garden, after all? This truly was the trip/excursion that my whole three weeks in London would hang on … The rest of the day — a fleeting Tube ride to Baron’s Court to walk around outside [...]

Monday of week two means teaching Winnie-the-Pooh.  I should probably quit teaching it; it doesn’t get easier to do.  Part of me says, ‘What is there to say?’  But it’s so much work to go beyond the obvious - how Milne represents various facets of the post-Edwardian, post-war child through Christopher Robin’s stuffed animals - [...]

It’s hard to believe that a year has come and gone so quickly.  Can it really be that just this time last year, I was boarding a flight with 20 of the coolest college students ever and heading to London? ::Sigh::  But now, just 12 days away, I’ll be doing the same thing again. This [...]

The weekend in Atlanta was a quick one, but a fun one.  Down on Friday and back on Sunday. We stayed with Julia in midtown, at her lovely 1920’s apartment on Ponce … what a great place, hardwood floors and all. Loved it. Saturday, because DDDtM was sick, I chose to take the extra ticket [...]

I didn’t so much miss the official release of Rachel Spangler’s new novel, Trails Merge, as I kept meaning to write about it and then got sidetracked.  Well, it’s official: Rachel’s new book is out and going great.  Bold Strokes Books & Amazon.com have plenty in stock, so be sure to get your copy now.
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I’m intrigued by the new Mo Willems … Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed … where does he come up with these ideas?

MaxGuyver and I found a new book today for him, one that he now likes to have read at bedtime: Melrose & Croc: An Adventure to Remember.  We ran across it today at Barnes & Noble, where we also saw this pigeon book, which I still do not have, but that’s not for here.  Anyway, [...]

I love that the new ALA poster featuring Tim Gunn would have him with a copy of Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain … leaving aside that both Gunn and Mann need two n’s to spell their names, there are obvious other similarities … and besides, I bet ol’ Tim’s ridden the magic mountain once [...]